Queridos Colegas, estimados amigos, bienvenidos a la conventión de la MLA. Especialmente quiero saludar a nuestros compañeros californianos y a todos los hermanos y hermanas hispánicos de estos Estados Unidos.

In the past, the association's presidents have used this occasion to inform members about issues that have arisen during the year and the ways that the officers have responded. Some of my predecessors have had years as eventful as mine and have gone to considerable length to present the MLA's actions as clearly as possible. Here the memorable address of Barbara Herrnstein Smith comes readily to mind. In times of controversy this annual rite has served the equally significant purpose of providing leadership, and in this respect few can match the example of Catharine Stimpson. I too shall give you an accounting of what the association has said and done in your name and how it has represented your manifold interests. But I also devote a major part of my remarks tonight to still another aim of this tradition: to remind ourselves why we are here and what we are about. In attempting to fulfill these goals I look at the MLA from the outside, viewing it as a participant in the social and political reality of our times, and also from the inside, inquiring into how it works.